Inking system for printing presses



Sept. 2, 1930.

H. A, w. WOOD INKING SYSTEM FOR PRINTING PRESSES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Nov. 26, 192

mQnm QQN 7 Sept. 2, 1930. H. A. w. WOOD 1,774,778

INKING SYSTEM FOR PRINTI-NG' PRESSES Original Filed Nov. 26, 192 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Teawm M Sept. 2, 1930.

H A. w. WOOD INKING SYSTEM FOR PRINTING PRESSES 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Original Filed Nov. 26, 1926 $11.2 all/Ital):

Patented Sept. 2, 1930 [UNITED STATES PA-TENT OFFICE HENRY A. WISE WOOD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASS IGNOR TO WOOD NEWSPAPER MA- CHINERY CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. 'Y., A CORPORATION OF VIRGINIA INKING SYSTEM FOR PRINTING PRESSES Application flled November 26, 1926, Serial No. 150,814. Renewed'lebruary 5, 1930.

cylinder which delivers the ink to the, form 5 rolls or printing plate-after it has supplied the ink thereto and before a fresh supply of ink is provided so as to avoid the application of the full thicknes film of ink to a cylinder which, on account of the inking of the plate, is at that time provided with an irregular coating of ink and necessarily will ink some parts of the next plate blacker than necessary and otherparts lighter.

The invention also involves the provision 1 of means for collecting the ink that normally drains back into the ink fountain and straining it in an effective way before it is allowed toenter the fountain, and means for carrying on this cleaning operation continuously so that no ink is returned to the fountain except that which is clean, thus avoiding the time and labor required for washing the rollers and plates and cleaning the fountain, and also avoiding the unsightly appearance of newspapers printed from ink w ich -is contaminated with the paper dust'from theprinting couple.

The invention also involves the additional feature of keeping the ink in the fountain and in the ink straining device at a substantially constant temperature so that it 7 will flow evenly throughout a days run.

This involves the provision of heating elements in the fountain, preferably electrical 5 ones, and they operate by thermostatic means so as to maintain a constant temperature. By combining these two features the ink is kept ata constant consistency and purity.

Other objects and advantages of the in- 40 vention Will appear hereinafter.

Reference isto be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of an inking mechanism showing the /plate cylinder, ink drum 4; andalso certain features of this invention;

Fig. 2 is an'end, elevation of the inking mechanism and the printing couple withpar'ts of the ink fountain shown in section; Fig. 3 is a similar viewwithseveral of the partsomitted showing. the transfer. of'the ink from the fountain roll to the ink drum;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line H of Fig. 2 showing mainly the ink cleaning mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55 of Fig. 4 to show the method of adjusting the blade to'theink drum; and

' Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the heating arrangement which is omitted from the other figuers for the sake of clear ness. 7 4

Most printing plates contain heavy type or illustrations and light type and blank spaces. When a form inking roller inks a plate it gives off ink wherever the plate has touched it. For instance, the portion ,ofa form inking roller which inks a heavy illustration will give up more ink than the portion of the same form inking roller which inks only light type, while the parts of the same inking roller which come over the blanks in the plate will not give up any ink at all.

Thus after a form inking roller has inked a plate there will be found on its surface a pattern identical with that of the printing surface of theplate, but in reverse. Wherever the inking roller has given up ink to the 7 very black illustrations the inking roller will have less ink left, and where the inking rpller has given up no ink it will have all its ink left. Thus the inking roller carries away from the ink plate a replica of the printing surface of the plate in varying intensities of light and shade, depending upon whether its parts. have moreink or less ink left upon them. It is obvious that if such a form inking roller should make a second turn on the printing plate without being resupplied with ink it would not have suflicientink for its work in some parts and it would have too much ink in other parts, and the resulting. rinted impression would be defective. n order to modify this defect the ink drum with which it contacts resupplies it with a new,film of ink, but as this'new film of ink is laid down upon the defective film of ink that the roller already has the new film only partially cor-1 rects its defects. This causes the-parts of the form roller from which no ink has been taken to receive as' much of a supply asthe parts from the of theink roller from which the most ink has been taken. This results in the feeding of much ink where very little ink is needed and of not enough where a great deal is needed.

Therefore, it is the urpose of this invention to eliminate the. efects caused by this system, which it does by continuously removing the defective film of ink from the ink drum after the ink'drum has su plied the form inking rollers with ink, and efore the ink drum receives its fresh supply of ink.

Thus, after the ink drum has supplied the form inking rollers it is whollystripped of the defective film of ink which remains upon it, so that wh n its surface receives thenew supply the said surface will be perfectly clean. Thus the form rollers will always be supplied with a perfect film of ink.

In the printing operation, considerable paper dust is icked off the paper by the inked plates of newspaper printing presses and drained back into the inking system with the ink. Ink loaded with paper dust is repeatedly returned to the fountain and con taminates the fresh ink more and more as the printing operation proceeds. This gives rise to one of two difliculties. If the best printing effects are desired, the press must be stopped frequently and the rollers and plates washed, which results in the loss of time which is so valuable in a modern printing plant that very often this is not done.

If a press is permitted to continue to run in an ever-increasing filthy condition the quality of the work suffers and the product has a very gray and uneven appearance in cases where there is a large'circulation. On account of the necessity of getting out the product within very definite time limits, in the case of large newspapers, the cleaning is not done usually and the apeparance of the newspapers suffer from this neglect.

By t 's invention the ink coming down iplate cylinder is drained off to one side and ltered so as to exclude the paper dust entirely. Then the clean ink is returned to the fountain. This prevents contaminated ink from reaching the fountain and thus avoids any necessity for losing time and labor for cleaning the plates and rollers. Furthermore, the printing is of uniform appearance,

even after along run.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that I have shown the invention as applied to a well-known form of printing press which need not be described in detail. The ink passes from the fountain roll in the ink fountain to the ink drum through a .ductor roll operated in the usual way as indicated in Fig. 3. It is then spread out and ap lied to the platecylinder as usual. Therea er any ink that comes around on the ink drum contains impurities in the. form of paper arlicles taken from the plate cylinder by tie orm rolls and is deposited back on the ink drum.

Now I 'provide a blade 10, in contact with the ink drum preferably, and located across the inking mechanism to take up this ink and move it away from the inking mechanism sothat no irregular film of ink is left on the ink drum and the ink removed from it can be cleared of the paper dust and any other impurities. This is provided with a V-shaped blade with'itstroughis mounted on a solid bar 12 supported by a plurality of hangers 13. These hangers are offset at 14. They are supported in a cross bar or shaft 15 carried by the frame of the machine. They hang down from this bar 15 to support the trough and blade. All thesehangers 13 can be turned on theaxis of the part that extends through the supporting shaft 15 to bring both ends of the blade into proper contact with the ink drum so as to scrape it practically clean. After these ghangers are turned and secured in the desired adjustment they are. fixed in their adjusted position by screws 16 or the like. They also can be adjusted vertically by a thumb nut 17 on each one.

I provide a'casing 20 having an open mouth 21 at the top directly under the discharge end of the trough 11. This receives the ink. A gear pump 22 directly beneath it, operatedby a sprocket chain or the like 23from the shaft of the fountain roll or any other part of the press, forces the ink down into a chamber 24 below. This chamber is provided with 'a strainer 25,-shown as of hollow form. It is elevated above the bottom of the chamber 24 and formed of a wire mesh'fabric or perforated sheet metal. The perforations or interstices are so fine as to prevent the entrance into the strainer of the paper dust and in fact anything except a liquid. Therefore no impurities can enter this chamber. It discharges by a pipe 26 by gravity into the ink fountain. The bottom of the ink chamber 24 is provided with a plug 27 through which the sed ent can be removed.

In this way the ink returned to the fountain is practically as pure as the fresh ink and the latter is not contaminated. Impure ink is not usedover andfover again and returned to the plate cylinder time after time. Thus the paper dust cannot affect the appearance of the printing.

For the purpose of making the printing still more uniform and clear I prefer to keep the temperature of the ink heated to a constant temperature so that it will always have the best consistency for printing. or this purpose I place an electric .heating unit 30 within the strainer 25 so that the ink which comes down from above may be heated up to the desired temperature. In this way the strained ink does not lower the temperature ed to a moderate temperature by the electricity thus supplied. This circuit 32 is controlled by means of 'a switch 33 which is under the control of a thermostat 34. The

amount of the current delivered to the several heating units 30 and 31 is regulated thereby. The sensitive end of the thermostat is introduced-into the ink in the fountain. Obviously when the inktherein gets too cold the thermostat works to cut out resistance and increase the current through the units 30 and 31. On the other hand it decreases thecurrent through them when the temperature gets above what is selected as normal. The unit 30 is shown as being under the influence of this thermostat, but that is not so essential, as it is not controlled by the heat of the ink in the strainer but by the temperature of the ink in the fountain.

It will be seen therefore that in two ways I provide for the delivery to the press of ink in lystant condition of excellency, both as to purity and consistency. The ink will flow more freely when it is warm than when cold and also-more freely if it is pure than if it is contaminated. by particles of paper. The result is that the papers printed, at the end of a long run, will be printed with practically the same blackness as those at the beginning and allthe time through the run the printing is practically uniform. At the same time no ink of value is wasted. The introduction. of ink into the fountain, even if it cools the ink therein temporarily, will not materially afi'ect the printing because the fountain will heat up to its original temperature within a very short time. The fountain as stated above is kept clear all through the run from ink contaminated by the paper particles.

Although I have illustrated and described only a single form of the invention I am aware of thefact that modifications can be made therein by any person skilled in the art with- .out departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the.claims.' Therefore, I do not wish to be limited-to all the details of construction herein shown and described, but what I do claim is V 1. In a printing press, the combination with the inking mechanism, an ink fountain, of a blade engaging the surface of the ink drum to clean said surface as it comes away from contact with the form rolls, an inclined trough for receiving all the ink from said blade and directing it to one end of the printing mechanism, and means for purifying said ink and returning it to the ink fountain.

2. In a printing press, the'combinationwith the inking mechanism, an ink fountain, of a blade applied to the surface of the ink drum to clean said surface as it comes away from contact with the form rolls, an inclined trough for receiving all the ink from said blade and directing it to one end of the printing mechanism, a receptacle at the end of the pressin position forreceiving the contaminated ink from the trough, a filter in the re,-' ceptacle, and means for discharging the filtered ink back into the fountain. v

3. In a printing press, the combination with the inking mechanism, of a blade adapted to engage the surface of the ink drum to remove the ink therefrom after printing,a bar extending along the machine near the ink drum for supporting said blade, a trough at the bottom of said blade supported by the bar, and means for supporting thebar in inclined position, whereby said trough is inclined from one'end to the other to feed the ink to a single point.

4. In a pr'intingpress, the combination with an inking mechanism, of a rod extending along the same, a series of hangers carried by said rod and each having an offset, said hangers being adapted to be turned to adjust the position of the offset lower end, a bar supported by the several hangers and extending along the printing mechanism, a blade, and a trough supported by the bar to scrape the ink from the ink drum and deliver it into the trough.

5. In a printing press, the combination with the inking mechanism, of a blade for removing the ink from one of the rotary members thereof after printing, a trough in position for receiving the ink from the blade, a receptacle for receiving the ink from the end of the trough, a pump in said receptacle for forcing the ink received thereby through the receptacle, a filter for separating the impurities from the ink in the receptacle, and means for draining the purified ink back into the'fountain. T 7

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6. Ina pri'ntingpress, the combination with the inking mechanism, of a blade for removing the ink from one of the rotary members thereof after printing, a trough in position for receiving the ink from the blade located in inclined position and adapted to deliver at one end, a receptaclehaving an open top I for receiving the ink from the lower end of the trough, a gear pump in said receptacle for forcing the ink received thereby through the receptacle, means connected with the inking mechanism for driving said pump, a filter for separating the paper particles and other impurities from the ink in the receptacle, and means for draining the purified ink back into the fountain.

7. In a printing press, the combination with the inking mechanism, of'a blade for removing the ink from one of the rotary members thereof after printing, a trough in position for receiving the ink from the blade, a receptacle for receiving the ink from the lower end of the trough, a filter for separating the paper particles and other impurities from the ink 1n the receptacle, means for draining the purified ink back into the fountain, and mea I is for heating the ink before it is discharged back into the fountain.

8. In a printing press, the combination with the inking mechanism, of'a blade applied to the surface of the ink drum to clean said surface as it comes away from contact with the form rolls, an inclined trough for receiving all the ink from said blade and directing it to one end of the printing mechanism, a filter for receiving the ink therefrom, and means in said filter for heating the purified ink received therein. c

9. The combination with an inking mechanism for a printing press, of means for removing the ink returned to the ink drum of the inking mechanism from the plate cylinder, means for removing the impurities therefrom and then returning it to the ink fountain, and means in the ink fountain for heating the ink therein and means for maintaining the ink therein at a constant temperature, whereby the ink delivered to the press will be constant both in consistency and purity throughout a long run.

10. In a printing press, the combination with an inking mechanism comprising a fountain and an ink drum, of means for removing from the surface of the ink drum any ink deposited upon it from the plate cylinder, means'for straining the impurities out of the ink and directing the purified used ink back into the ink fountain, electrical means for heating the ink in the fountain and in the straining means, and thermostatic means controlled bythe temperature of the ink in the to said heating means.

11. In a prlnting press, the combination fountain for controlling the supply of heatwith an inking mechanismcomprising a foun- L tain and an ink drum, of means for removing from the surface of the ink drum any ink deposited upon it from the plate cylinder,

' means for directing the used ink back into the ink fountain, electrical means for heating the ink in the fountain, and thermostatic means controlled by the temperature of the ink in the fountain for controlling the supply of heat to said heating means. 12. In an inking mechanism, the combina tion with an ink drum and form rolls contacting with the ink drum for applying ink to a plate cylinder, of means for removin the ink film from the surface of the ink rum after a plate has been inked and before the ink drum receives a freshsupply of ink.

of, means on the opposite side of the ink drum for supplying it with ink, and a plate cylinder contacting with both form rolls, of a blade extending across the ink drum for scrapform surface thereon, said blade being located between the ink supplying means and the form roll on the side of the ink drum toward which the drum rotates from the plate cylinder, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

- HENRY A. WISE WOOD.

13. In an inkin mechanism, the combination with an ink rum, means for supplying it with ink, and form rolls for transferring the ink from the ink drum to a printing plate,

ing the ink film therefrom and leaving a uniy Y 

